Throughout history, secret societies have played a crucial role in shaping events that have created our world. Only an inner circle of power elite know the full extent of the influence of the conspiracy. It is Paris, 1772, and Sigismundo Celine knows he is destined to play an important part in this history-behind-history. The masons, the English nobil ity, the Jabobites, the Rosicrucians, the ruling clique of pre-Revolution France: these are but a few of the factions involved in the machinations and intrigue in which Sigismundo has become enmeshed. Thrown into the Bastille, shot at, assaulted by assassins, tortured, and brutally interrogated, he knows only what he is and what he must do to become the one spoken of in the old texts. But what he doesn't know could kill him: the secret powers of Maria, the Italian beauty who has become an English Lady; the Irish fisherman, Moon, who stumbles across the inner workings of an unsuspected cult; and the question they keep asking: the identity of The Widow's Son.

Raised by a career soldier, a working class Englishman tries to find his place—both in and out of uniform—in this compelling novel of love and war Charlie Scorton sees his best friend killed beside him in the mine, and resolves to join the army. His father throws him out for deserting the coal miner’s life, but Charlie never looks back. For twenty-four years, he roams the empire, a king’s soldier who is finally left with no choice but to come home. He has a child, his wife dies, and the old soldier dedicates himself to raising his boy. Charlie trains his son, William, to be an artilleryman from birth. William finds a home in the army, the sort he has always longed for, and makes his mark during World War II, performing heroically during the retreat at Dunkirk, risking his life to save thousands. But soon, he will be forced to answer the question his father never could: What does a soldier do when war is over? Alan Sillitoe, the bestselling author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, examines where the fight ends and life begins for a soldier in this story of love and war, and the blurred lines between them.

A dazzling speculative inquiry into the mysteries surrounding the sequel to THE DA VINCI CODE SECRETS OF THE WIDOW'S SON is itself an unprecedented book concept. Relying on extensive investigative reporting and intellectual sleuthing, it is an explorer's field guide to understanding the main themes, ideas, symbols and historical issues which author Dan Brown will most likely utilise in THE SOLOMON KEY - months before this much-awaited sequel to THE DA VINCI CODE is even published. SECRETS OF THE CODE told the story of how the riddle embedded in The Da Vinci Code's dust-cover pointed to Dan Brown's next book: selected letters appearing on the book jacket's flaps, slightly bolder than others, spelled out the mystically alluring question, 'Is There No Help for the Widow's Son?' Research led David Shugarts and his team to understand the role of the 'Widow's Son' in the history of Freemasonry, biblical apocrypha, Mormonism, and various secret societies and occult belief systems. Dan Brown has since confirmed that his next book is indeed about the Masons, and that protagonist Robert Langdon, of DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS fame, would be back to lead us on a symbolic treasure hunt through the art, architecture and secret codes of the American capital, Washington DC. This book is not a plot spoiler for THE SOLOMON KEY. It is not trying to guess who will be murdered, or which fictional mysteries, cover-ups, and conspiracies will be invented to drive the plot of this story. SECRETS OF THE WIDOW'S SON is about the ideas and issues that will form the background and context for THE SOLOMON KEY.

Pass the bottle and I'll tell you a story of whiskey and wheelguns; of when mighty Buffalo Soldiers patrolled the desert on iron steeds, and of cannibal lizard men deep in the Louisiana bayou; of Navajo skin-walkers and the Mexican undead; of the forgotten tomb of an ancient Mayan god and the Man with Bronze Teeth. A story of the lawman Zarahemla Two Crows and the young widow who together stormed the gates of Hell to rescue her son. A story, my friend, of when the west was weird.

A story with two endings tells how a hard-working widow loses the son she cherishes.

Dating a widower comes with unique challenges that you won’t encounter when dating a single or divorced man. For the relationship to work, the widower will have to put his feelings for his late wife to the side and focus on you. But how do you know if he’s ready to take this step? Drawing on his own experience as a remarried widower, Abel Keogh provides unique insight and guidance into the hearts and minds of widowers, including: · Why widowers date so soon after their late wife dies · How to know if the widower is ready to make room in his heart for you · Red flags that indicate widowers aren’t ready for commitment · How to set and maintain healthy relationship boundaries with widowers Dating a Widower is your guide to having a successful relationship with a man who’s starting over. It also contains 21 real-life stories from women who have gone down the same road you’re traveling. It’s the perfect book to help you decide if the man you’re seeing is ready for a new relationship—and whether dating a widower is right for you. *** Abel Keogh is the expert on widower relationships. A remarried widower, Abel has successfully helped thousands of women know if the widowers they’re dating are ready for a serious relationship. He also helps widowers understand what it takes to overcome grief and open their heart to another woman. Learn more at http://www.abelkeogh.com.

“One night when she was four and sleeping in the bottom bunk of her bunk bed, Ruth Cole woke to the sound of lovemaking—it was coming from her parents’ bedroom.” This sentence opens John Irving’s ninth novel, A Widow for One Year, a story of a family marked by tragedy. Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character—a “difficult” woman. By no means is she conventionally “nice,” but she will never be forgotten. Ruth’s story is told in three parts, each focusing on a critical time in her life. When we first meet her—on Long Island, in the summer of 1958—Ruth is only four. The second window into Ruth’s life opens on the fall of 1990, when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgment in men, for good reason. A Widow for One Year closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She’s about to fall in love for the first time. Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief.

Secrets of the Widow's Son is a revealing look at the themes that will be explored in The Solomon Key, Dan Brown's upcoming sequel to the cultural phenomenon known as The Da Vinci Code. David A. Shugarts provides what Browns widespread admirers crave most--an enlightening glimpse into the secrets behind Brown's eagerly anticipated new book. Secrets of the Widow's Son is not a plot spoiler--rather, it is an engaging piece of work that will pique readers' interest in The Solomon Key while laying the groundwork for the theories to be explored in Brown's can't-miss sequel.

Written with unexpected humor and great warmth, The Widower's Notebook is a portrait of a marriage, an account of the complexities of finding oneself single again after losing your spouse, and a story of the enduring power of familial love. "This is deeply moving ... beautifully written and modulated, with a dollop of droll, black humor. It is such an achievement, like running uphill against a strong wind."--Joyce Carol Oates On a summer day in New York Jonathan Santlofer discovers his wife, Joy, gasping for breath on their living room couch. After a frenzied 911 call, an ambulance race across Manhattan, and hours pacing in a hospital waiting room, a doctor finally delivers the fateful news. Consumed by grief, Jonathan desperately tries to pursue life as he always had--writing, social engagements, and working on his art--but finds it nearly impossible to admit his deep feelings of loss to anyone, not even his to beloved daughter, Doria, or to himself. As Jonathan grieves and heals, he tries to unravel what happened to Joy, a journey that will take him nearly two years.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Three Junes: Seventy-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement—reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. But his routines are disrupted when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As Percy sees his rural refuge overrun by children, parents, and teachers, he must reexamine the solitary life he has made in the three decades since the sudden death of his wife. With equal parts affection and humor, Julia Glass spins a captivating tale about a man who can no longer remain aloof from his community, his two grown daughters, or—to his great shock—the precarious joy of falling in love.